


The Sun Will Rise

by orphan_account



Series: Vampire AU [3]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/M, M/M, a lot of naive politics, graphic description of an execution, this fic is heavily influenced by Les Miserables
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 02:29:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19820683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Set 5 years after 'Snowy Night'.I might have read too much Hugo and watched the musical too many times.





	The Sun Will Rise

**Author's Note:**

> I am not a native speaker of English/French and this work has not been beta'd. Apologies for any grammatical/language mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me if you spot any of them!  
> This is completely fictional.

_For the wretched of the earth/there is a flame that never dies/even the darkest night will end/and the sun will rise_  
_-Herbert Kretzmer, Finale of Les Miserables_

Elisaveta left her apartment at 3am, dressed in black suit. 3am was surely not a good hour for most of the species in the city now, since they all needed to sleep. But it was a good time for her, a vampire, because she could easily get rid of the human ‘police’ who was trying to follow her. Humans did not function that well past midnight, nor did they have good night vision. When she was dressed in black, it was even easier for her to blend in to the night.  
She didn’t choose black just for camouflaging. Her heart sank as she was getting closer to the agreed meeting place, Carolina’s home. It’s a small gathering, with only a few former responders and people from the relation office, probably with two more who were the original delegates of the Lausanne Conference. The Treaty was abolished one week before, and two of her friends-their friends-were sentenced to death by the human’s court.  
Most executions in the past few decades had taken place in private, in the very basic humanitarian considerations. But the world is not the same anymore, Elisaveta thought. Other intelligent species were more or less watched by humans in the past month, and they would be expelled from the human’s lands in a month.  
She didn’t know why everything changed so drastically. All species started to blend after the Basel Amendment thirty years ago, and everything seemed to work well, until the incident two months ago. When they reported the case to the court, they had never thought that it could escalate so much and so fast. The Responders had known, since the creation of the group, that there were some politicians who hated other species in their land, but they didn’t expect any attempts to abolish the Treaty. Nor did they expect their friend’s imminent death.  
Carolina offered her house for the gathering. She was a nymph, who was considered to be rather harmless by the humans; and nymphs were beautiful. There were always some exceptions for the good-looking ones. In addition, she had never served as a responder or involved in the treaty, which removed her from the ‘close watch’ name list.  
Elisaveta carefully looked back to ensure there was no one after her, then ascended the stairs and knocked the door.  
“Come in,” Brian opened the door, as narrow as possible, for her to squeeze in.  
“Am I the last?” She looked into the living room. There were a few people sitting on the sofa. She could recognize some, but not all.  
“Second last.” Brian said, “Zhenya will meet Max and Tanya soon to retrieve their...the things they wish to leave to us. Max thinks it’s better if they go and get these from the prison, since they are humans with ‘good records’.”Brian made two air quotes, “The couple wanted to come, but we don’t want to risk anything. After all, they have a daughter to look after.”  
4 o’clock in the morning was considered very late for every species but the vampires, but no one was sleeping. Kaetlyn and Carolina were sitting next to each other, talking in a very low voice. Johnny was reading something. Brian placed a chair close to the door, sat there and was prepared to answer, or to warn everyone else, if anyone knocked. There were two others whom Elisaveta hadn’t met before, but she knew that they must be the two original delegates.  
“Hi, call me Lyosha.” The male stood up and shook hands with her, “A delegate, werewolf.”  
From his nickname and accent, she recognized him as a person who shared the same origins with her- geographically, not biologically.  
The woman hugged her and exchanged three la bise with her, “Nice to meet you. I’m Salome, the delegate of the nymphs.”  
The human delegate had passed away many years ago, and the zombie delegate was forced to leave on the day of abolishment. The vampire was in prison.  
There were some snacks and hot drinks on the coffee table, but seemed to be untouched. They just couldn’t. It was very difficult to accept that they would soon witness the death of their personal friends and their allies.

Little time had passed before there’s another knock on the door. Brian looked at the peephole and opened the door to let Evgeni in.  
He didn’t have too much in hands. Of course, Stéphane and Chris didn’t have too many personal belongings in the prison to begin with.  
“There are some letters,” Evgeni said as he sat down on the couch, “but I don’t think we had time to read everything before it…takes place.” He took out a few envelopes which were hidden inside his suit jacket, “Stéph wrote one to us, each one of them had a public letter and one for Deniss.” He said, “I don’t think it’s possible to publish their public letter now, though.”  
They knew it. Censorship had announced her return in human society.

Elisaveta had mindlessly watched two episodes of drama with the television on silence. To be more precise, she was thinking of many other things while staring at the screen. She recalled all the investigations she took part in, the readings of the amendments she had watched online, and some small details between her and her friends. She wished she was only dreaming. She wished it was only a long nightmare, and she would wake up to the messages from her colleagues, asking her to report to somewhere.  
The screen had turned blank for a moment before a video started to play. A human, probably a government officer or a party leader, was speaking in the congress building. No one suggested turning the sound on, since it wouldn’t be anything they wanted to hear.  
The speech ended, and the mountains were shown on the screen. Switzerland was a strange country, as even in the hottest summers, there would always be some snow high up on the mountains.  
No one knew why the mountains were displayed. It couldn’t be a documentary about how beautiful the country was.  
They stood up when they saw their friends were brought in. Everything was clear now. That would be the place where their execution happens. Definitely an unconventional choice, but it might be a good place, better than in the prison, Elisaveta thought. At least they could face it in each other’s company. At least it’s somewhere beautiful.  
Everyone in the room was dressed formally and in all black, and it was absolutely silent. They left the television in silent mode, now not because they didn’t want to listen to it. It’s because they couldn’t listen to it. And the humans were unlikely to allow them to make any speeches, anyway.  
The dawn was approaching. From the screen, they could see a corner of Lac Leman, and a hint of pink on the horizon. Their friends held hands and faced the camera. It was hard to decipher what was on their face and in their eyes. Elisaveta suspected that she saw a little smile, but it could be her imagination. After all, why would they smile now?  
Two rifles were raised. Evgeni stared at the screen for a while and frowned. It might just be because of the angle of the camera, but he was somehow sure that the rifles were not positioned correctly.  
Evgeni was right. When the rifles were fired, Stéphane was the only one who fell to the snow. And he was not shot at anywhere which could cause immediate death, not in between his brows, not on his chest. One was on his left thigh, the other near the abdomen.  
Brian clenched his fists. Can’t they just find someone with better shooting skills? Or just use a firing squad? If they’re sentenced to death, at least make it immediate and painless. They’ll need to fire for the second time.  
But the second firing didn’t come. The two humans holding rifles lowered the barrel and walked away. Chris slowly sat down on the snow-covered ground, and brought Stéphane into his arms.  
The people in the room looked at each other, confused. They didn’t know what happened there. But they weren’t confused for too long, as the sun gradually rose onto the mountains.  
Someone cursed softly. They now understood why the execution was scheduled to be in the early morning, before sunrise; you don’t expect people, especially humans, to wake up at this hour to watch the broadcast.  
That was because sunlight, especially summer sunlight on the snow-covered Alps, could burn a vampire alive. It was cruel enough to use capital punishment on them, but it was completely inhumane to do it this way. It’s a slow and painful death.  
There were sobbing in the room. Even the werewolves, who don’t normally show any tears throughout their whole life, were crying.  
They saw Stéphane’s blood melting the snow and staining it to dark red. They saw Chris’s skin showing blisters and dark scabs, before flaking apart. And they saw them lacing their fingers together, and Chris bowed his head to kiss Stéphane. The last time. Stéphane might have said something, a few words, but they had set the TV to silent mode. Even if the sound was on, it would not be possible to hear it clearly, as he must be too weak to speak audibly now, judging from very little movement of his lips. But Chris smiled despite the excruciating pain of being exposed to sunlight, and brought his lover closer into his embrace.  
The vampire’s body gradually became deformed and eventually turned into ashes. Stéphane had stopped moving before that, with his eyes closed. It even looked peaceful.  
The TV programme didn’t last for too long on their bodies-or lack thereof-, and the morning news soon followed. Johnny grabbed the control to switch it off, with flames of anger in his teary eyes.  
“What the f--” Alexei’s swearing was stopped by Evgeni. Evgeni held his hand and both of them turned to face the south, where the Alps was. Where their friends said goodbye to the world they’ve loved.  
The people moved with the two werewolves, and bowed to the direction of the mountains. They couldn’t bid farewell to their friends personally, but at least they could pay respect to them in this way.

It took some time for everyone to calm down, sit around the coffee table and start reading the letters, their friend’s final words.  
“Does anyone know how to contact Deniss?” Evgeni held the two envelopes with the young vampire’s name, “I’ve heard that he refused to leave the castle and locked himself in. He didn’t even answer to the court after his first appearance.”  
There was a brief moment of silence, before Salome replied ‘maybe’. “I have a key to the side-gate of the castle,” she said, “It was…more than a hundred years ago. I don’t know if it still works. The lock could have rusted, or they could have changed it. But it’s worth trying. If it doesn’t work, we can slide the letters down the main gate. To be honest,” she hesitated, “…he might not want to meet any of us now. He needs time.” After his testimony was distorted and twisted by the court to prove something which wasn’t true, and indirectly led to today.  
They opened the letter addressed to ‘my friends’. Stéphane couldn’t write ‘the responders’ on the envelope, as it would surely be confiscated. Writing ‘friends’ was not 100% safe, but better.  
“Do you need some copies of it?” Carolina asked as everyone tried to squeeze around the letter to read it, “I don’t have a photocopier here, but I can scan and print some. It’s easier to read, and also,” she made a gesture, “You can keep the copies. I’ll also copy their Letters to the Public, so...” she bit her lips, “If there’s a chance, anywhere, anytime, it could be shown to the world.” They’ll move back to their ‘native lands’ soon. There might be a place where the letters could be published.  
They agreed, but continued to read the first few paragraphs when Carolina ran to her study to print off the scanned document.  
His letter was written in a friendly, gentle and calm tone. He asked them not to act impulsively because of his death. He asked them to protect themselves in this period of horror. He asked them to hold onto their beliefs, but not to be unnecessarily stubborn.  
When Carolina came back and distributed the three letters to everyone, they were left with only the last few lines.  
“Adieu, mes amis fidèles. –S.L.”  
That’s the end of the letter. They didn’t speak much before starting reading the two letters addressed to the general public. It was not hard to guess what was in their letters, as most people here had the same beliefs and worked together for it. Both of them expressed their trust in the goodness of other species and called for mutual understanding and cooperation. It could never be as persuasive as what was written in their verdicts, but at least it was truthful. There might include their opinions, but at least there weren’t manipulations of the facts.  
Kaetlyn broke the silence. “Will it come back?” The society where all species could live together. The time when people of different species could be friends, and even lovers. Like Stephane and Chris.  
Carolina brought her into an embrace. “It will,” she murmured, but loud enough for everyone to hear, “it will. If we can’t see it, others will.”  
They needed to leave at slightly different time so as not to draw any attention. A group of people walking out of the residential area in the early morning is extremely obvious, even suspicious, although most of them had brought a change of normal clothes. They decided that the werewolves-Evgeni and Alexei-coud leave first in their workout outfit to ‘go for a run’, then Salome and Kaetlyn, disguised as mother and daughter, going for a morning walk. Brian would leave at around 8.30am, carrying a sandwich and his briefcase, like a human who’s on a rush to get to work. The two vampires would stay until the night falls.  
Alexei folded the copy of the letter and placed it in his backpack. He stopped just in front of the door, paused for a few seconds and turned back. “À demain, mes amis fidèles.”  
Others froze briefly and hugged him. “À demain.” They said in a low voice.  
It’s not the literal ‘tomorrow’, Elisaveta thought as she pressed the copy of the letter close to her chest. But the day will come, and they’ll meet again.

**Author's Note:**

> Adieu, mes amis fideles: Farewell, my loyal friends  
> A demain, mes amis fideles: See you tomorrow, my loyal friends. This line is a direct quote from the French version of the musical, from the song 'A la volunte du peuple'.  
> In case you wonder what Steph's last words were, he said 'Je partage ton sort' (I shall share your fate), another direct quote from Hugo's novel.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The two hundred years](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19831081) by [acupofteaime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/acupofteaime/pseuds/acupofteaime), [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account)
  * [There Is a Flame That Never Dies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20327734) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account)




End file.
